OC decide who stood trial for spouse’s homicide speaks out – NBC Los Angeles

After the case of an Orange County decide charged with homicide for fatally capturing his spouse led to a mistrial Monday, Jeffrey Ferguson, the person within the middle of the authorized battle spoke completely with NBC Los Angeles on Thursday.

NBCLA’s Hetty Chang was the one reporter to sit down down with Ferguson at his Anaheim Hills residence the place he shot and killed his spouse. 

The very first thing Ferguston did was to indicate the NBCLA crew the household room the place he and his spouse, Sheryl, had been sitting when he stated he by accident discharged his gun and killed her.

Ferguson stated he was relieved and upset on the similar time when the jury was unable to achieve a unanimous verdict.

“Within the depend – the 11 to at least one. That was kind of a blow to my feelings, however I don’t have every other selection however to maintain going ahead,” Ferguson stated.

The person going through a doable retrial stated sitting in a courtroom, charged together with his spouse’s homicide was like “being in an episode of Twilight Zone.” 

“It’s such as you’re snatched out of your actuality, and also you’re plunked down with none warning  into a very completely different world, a world that’s not notably pleasant to you,” Ferguson stated. “After doing what I’ve accomplished within the felony justice system for 40 years, discovering myself in that chair was bewildering and arduous to fathom.”

In response to critics who should suppose the killing was intentional, Ferguson insisted, and reiterated again and again, that it was an accident.

“I’m not getting away with something as a result of I misplaced her, and he or she misplaced her life,” he stated whereas sobbing.

The interview with NBCLA adopted a mistrial that was declared Monday within the 74-year-old Ferguson’s homicide trial. He confronted a homicide cost within the Aug. 3, 2023 capturing loss of life his 65-year-old spouse Sheryl within the couple’s Anaheim Hills residence.

The jury, which may have convicted Ferguson of second-degree homicide or involuntary manslaughter, break up 11-1 in favor of a responsible verdict on a second-degree homicide cost quickly after resuming deliberations Monday morning. Deliberations started Feb. 26.

As deliberations stretched into the brand new week, the jury signaled they had been at an deadlock, however continued efforts to achieve a call. Los Angeles Superior Courtroom Decide Eleanor Hunter as jurors Thursday afternoon what number of votes that they had taken and the forewoman stated a number of.

Hunter requested them to return to deliberations and focus on.

Jurors left early on Friday, telling the decide overseeing the case they had been “exhausted.”

“Justice rests within the palms of 12 strangers who had been taken from their on a regular basis lives and given the immense duty to weigh the proof and decide guilt or innocence,” stated Orange County District Lawyer Todd Spitzer. “Though we’re upset with the end result, we can be reviewing the questions introduced by the jury together with the information in addition to assembly with the sufferer’s household with a purpose to decide within the coming weeks concerning this case. The District Lawyer has at all times been obtainable to satisfy with the sufferer’s household ought to that be one thing they request.”

A jury fails to achieve a verdict within the trial of Jeffrey Ferguson. Hetty Chang studies for the NBC4 Information at 3 p.m. on Monday March 10, 2025.

A listening to to set a brand new trial date is scheduled for Thursday.

“A hung jury just isn’t a failure,” protection legal professional Cameron Talley stated outdoors the courtroom. “A hung jury is a part of the method. It is also successful in its personal manner.

“The shock was that the jury was out this lengthy. I’ve by no means had a jury out for 2 weekends. However I feel it is a testomony to how arduous this jury labored.”

Throughout closing arguments, attorneys for the prosecution tried to persuade jurors that Ferguson was upset following a dispute together with his spouse at a restaurant. Once they two had been again residence, Ferguson took out his gun and killed his spouse in a tragic chain of occasions that warrant a homicide conviction, prosecutors stated.

“You might have been introduced with proof — credible proof — he took out the gun, he was offended,” Senior Deputy District Lawyer Seton Hunt advised jurors Wednesday. “He took the gun out, pointed at her and killed her.”

Protection attorneys argued the capturing was unintentional.

“No, completely not. It was an accident,” Ferguson stated when requested by Talley whether or not he meant to shoot his spouse.

The Fergusons and their son Phillip went to El Cholo Mexican restaurant earlier that day, however Sheryl Ferguson left after her husband made a hand gesture mimicking a gun throughout an argument, in line with testimony. Later at their residence, Phillip Ferguson stated he heard his mom say one thing to the impact of, “Why do not you level an actual gun at me?”

Calling it essentially the most dependable account of the capturing, Hunt performed video of the son later telling police, “I circled and he pulls out a gun and goals at her and fires.”

Hunt known as the decide’s account — that he fumbled with the Glock pulled from an ankle holster and it by accident discharged when he tried to position it on a cluttered espresso desk — “ridiculous.”

Phillip Ferguson stated his mom’s final phrases had been, “He shot me,” Hunt stated.

Hunt steered Ferguson may have gone upstairs and put the gun away as he routinely did every evening earlier than going to mattress.

“I may have accomplished quite a lot of issues,” Ferguson stated.

Ferguson’s blood-alcohol stage was .065 % when it was measured seven hours after the capturing, Hunt stated. An professional testified it was possible about .17 %, or almost twice the authorized restrict for driving, on the time of the capturing, Hunt famous.

At a information convention after the court docket continuing, Spitzer stated he plans to evaluate a few of Ferguson’s instances. Ferguson, who has been in decide in Orange County for 9 years, testified that he generally had a couple of drinks throughout lunch and will have been intoxicated throughout hearings over which he was presiding.

Talley challenged the prosecution’s argument by saying it stems from a misunderstanding of how weapons work. Talley famous how Hunt referred to loading bullets within the gun through the trial when the weapon makes use of magazines. Talley additionally stated the pathway of the bullet because the pathologist within the case testified disproves any authorized principle that Ferguson’s arm was crooked at a 45-degree angle.

Talley famous one detective’s testimony about how far the casing from the gun’s projectile would go if it had been fired the best way the prosecution theorized. However Talley stated it was discovered proper subsequent to the espresso desk, which was constant together with his principle of an unintentional capturing.

Talley additionally argued that residence surveillance video additionally indicated there was no muzzle flash, which was additionally per an unintentional misfire. The bullet ripped via the sufferer’s stomach “barely to the left” and exited the higher proper of her again, which might match the angle of the place the defendant stated the gun misfired, Talley argued.

Talley stated there is not any proof his consumer was offended, however, he stated, he was trying to make peace and finish the battle.

“He isn’t mad,” he stated. “The place’s this drunken rage coming from?”